So here is a little toy I am working on for fun. It uses my particle system which probably is not all that great compared to others but it works. I have it so you can give a sheet of images where one will randomly be selected and am wondering if adding animated particles would be all that great.

Screen of some explosions

I am thinking about doing more on my particle system tutorial but more about actually using a finished system to do specific effects. Torch, fire, waterfall, magic attack, rain, snow, and what not.

I am wondering if everyone else makes all sorts of tools/editors for their games to help streamline level design and what not. I know that I have made many level editors but they all just fail.

I would use this if I wasn't already well into creating pixel FX :/ Looks very cool and might use it if I ever make something less 'retro'.

EDIT: if this thing can be sized down considerably, i'd definitely use this over making my own fx.

Busy between school, work, life, games, programming and general screwing around.If you'd like some pixel art for your game, send me a PM, i'll see what I can do.Current project: http://elementalwarblog.wordpress.com/

Sprite sheets are nice as you can get as much detail as you want in the resolution and they cost magnitudes less on the cpu/gpu. Downside is that you need a crap load of video memory where particles take of very little and are much more dynamic.

Here is another screen for a blue candle flame. Looks really nice in motion.

This has many things I want to do missing. (mainly all the stuff in the tests and tabs) but definitely helps streamline effects. In my java2d one I could export .java files that would give you the effect. All you would need to do is pass in the location and the images used. Everything else is handled by the engine. I will add svaing and loading as well as the export to .java. If you want I can post the source and the editor. Be warned that my coding is ugly.

Tomorrow I am going to try adding all the exporting and saving...wish me luck.

I actually have ported my particle system to libgdx using their texture regions. Thing is their system is very good and probably faster then mine so I don't really want to try and compete with them.

As far as format goes I could look into json but once I get the exporting going I will probably do a video tutorial on how to get the effect from the editor to your screen. If there is interest I will also show how to properly use it and all the fun features it has. One that I really like but is probably very slow is the option to have your particle point in the direction they are traveling in. Means you can make some cool stuff. I also have scaling the size of the effect and speed. Create one super cool explosion, give it different colors, size, and reuse.

I want this...its like christmas all over again, except I'm expecting a gift

Don't you always expect a gift on Christmas?

So I have added exporting for my engine right now but unfortunately my app eat way, way too much cpu. I think it probably has something to do with using lwjgl with swing. Well here is another screen of some plasma.

I am probably going to add some stuff for the test Settings before adding an export option to use this with libgdx. I will also make a tutorial on how to use it of course.

But, I just got a working version down for you to try. I am working on a tutorial on how to use it after I post this. The editor does not work on java 7 due to input focus issues. I fixed it but then it caused other issues and made it so you had to have java7 so instead only java6

The actual system works fine on libgdx and the editor comes with the jar to get it working.

2. In your update method, call, "SystemX.update(delta)" You can pass in 1 if you do not have a variable time loop.

3. In you render method between SpriteBatch.begin() and SpriteBatch.end(), call, "SystemX.render(SpriteBatch batch)" This will render all particles at once. If you want to only render say certain effects, you can pass in the layer that effects are on and it will only render the particles on that layer.

4. After you create your super cool effect, press File->Export->Libgdx and give it a name. In exports folder you will see your file with "Fx" in front. Copy the file into your project. Add in the name of the package you put the file into. There is a missing semicolon on one of the imports. Guess I uploaded a wrong version because I remember fixing it

5. Create the effect and add it to SystemX by calling, "SystemX.addEffect(effect)" This will return the index of this effect in SystemX. You can then retrieve this effect with that index and tell it to do things. Only do this for continuous effects that you want to 'stop' being continuous. The constructor takes the location and then a TextureRegion[] for each emitter in the effect.

The editor options are very straight forward. Point vel will point the particles in the direction they are traveling in. Friction values will be low. (.01f is good starting). If you make it them negative it will instead speed the particles up instead of slow them down. Rotation is the rate of rotation. So between 0-3 should be good starting point. "K" to kill all particles. "P" to pause.

I know that many other systems will have an .xml file that has all of the properties of the effect you are loading instead of giving you a class file. This is nice as it allows for a much easier time when updating effects but I really do not like .xml. Its probably because I have never had a huge need to use it.

I am not trying to sell this or compete with other Particle Systems out there. It is free to use for w/e you want, commercial or non. Tell me if it is too much work, bugs, things that would be better, or anything you think would be easier or nicer. I like the UI right now but some may not like it.

When can we get our hands on this! I think I need it XD congrats, its really well done so far!

Busy between school, work, life, games, programming and general screwing around.If you'd like some pixel art for your game, send me a PM, i'll see what I can do.Current project: http://elementalwarblog.wordpress.com/

exporting as a spritesheet is a really good idea ! and seamless looping would be a nice option as well. It's quite difficult to find a nice tool to do this kind of thing with enough control ( I have tried some but they were very limited ... ), so I'm glad you're making this one

So here is a new screen showing some more animation export options. Right now I finally got a seamless looping algorithm. I had tried a good 7 different methods all of which had options you could change and all looked like crap. Then I got an algorithm that did not have anything you could change and it worked.

I am trying to get the UI of the animation exporter a little more polished then I will give you guys a version to try out. This is not going to be as boss as programs like particles illusion but it is free

I like the idea of this, but I think I'm doing something wrong. Do I need to provide my own images for particles? When I punch in the same details you have in your screenshots I just just large squares being pumped out. Also, the options under the "Example" menu don't seem to have any effect.

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